AG Opposes Wontumi’s Appeal To Defer July 3 Judgment
The office of the Attorney General has announced that it will vigorously oppose an application seeking to defer judgement in the ongoing criminal case involving the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, over alleged illegal mining activities in Samreboi.
The application for the postponement of judgement was filed by Samuel Atta Akyea, who recently assumed legal representation for Chairman Wontumi.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition was filed on Thursday, June 25, by Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Prempeh, urging the court to dismiss the application and proceed with the case.
The prosecution argues that the request for a deferment lacks merit, stressing that the accused person had been represented by legal counsel throughout the duration of the trial and that the withdrawal of his previous lawyer was voluntary rather than due to any circumstances beyond counsel’s control.
“In a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition deposed to by Nana Ama Prempeh, a senior state attorney, and filed this afternoon, the attorney general strongly argues that the accused person having been represented by counsel throughout the trial and that counsel only withdrawing voluntarily and not for cause, the proper source for a new lawyer to procure the records of and any brief or briefing on the case is the outgoing counsel and not the court's registry," the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) wrote in a Facebook post.
The prosecution further alleges that the decision by Samuel Atta Akyea to seek the records directly from the court’s registry, instead of obtaining them from the previous legal representative, was not made in good faith.
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